Benjamin B Roberts - rush_on_amsterdamhttp://benjaminbroberts.com/?q=en/rush_on_amsterdam
enWinter 2013: From Brewery to ....Museumhttp://benjaminbroberts.com/?q=en/node/92
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://benjaminbroberts.com/sites/bbroberts.capdevelopment.nl/files/styles/large/public/field/image/You%20in%20Amsterdam%20Winter-a%202013.jpg?itok=yg_lv7zB"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://benjaminbroberts.com/sites/bbroberts.capdevelopment.nl/files/styles/large/public/field/image/You%20in%20Amsterdam%20Winter-a%202013.jpg?itok=yg_lv7zB" width="580" height="435" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong>HEINEKEN EXPERIENCE</strong> TEXT <strong>BENJAMIN ROBERTS</strong> PHOTOGRAPHY <strong>HEINEKEN COLLECTION FOUNDATION</strong> Water, barley, hops, and the special ingredient known as ‘A’ yeast. That’s it. For more than 125 years that’s been the winning receipt for the world famous Heineken Beer. And chances are, it won’t change anytime soon either. At Amsterdam’s Heineken Experience, a stone-throw away from the Rijksmuseum and other major tourist attractions, visitors will learn that the history of beer brewing is not a museale tour, but rather a full-sensory experience. In 1868, the foundation of the first Heineken brewery was laid at the present location on the Stadhouderskade. The building designed by Isaac Gosschalk in 1867, features stained-glass windows and interiors decorated with elaborate yellow tile, remained the main brewing operations until the 1980s when it was moved to larger facilities in the small town of Zoeterwoude, near Leiden. Then the brewery was converted into the Heineken Experience, a comprehensive visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory - and gustatory experience, permeating every pore of the body. <strong>It’s a family affair</strong>The Heineken story reads like a family history, starting back in 1864 when Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought the brewery, De Hooiberg or <em>The Haystack</em> on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, in the center of the city. Gerard was a young, 24-year old entrepreneur in who did not know much about brewing beer but he did have a talent for hiring the best people to brew the beer for him. In the late the nineteenth century, Amsterdam had hundreds of beer breweries. Beer was a more reliable beverage that water, which was often contaminated. Unlike his contemporary brewers, Heineken was one of the first brewers that started a laboratory and developed a beer with Elion’s “A’ yeast that could ensure that each brew of beer was consistent and had the same concentration. This offered a standardization of the beverage. Besides standardizing each brew of beer, Heineken also recognized that beer could be easily transported. Within less than 30 years Gerard turned his brewery into one of the largest in the Netherlands. <strong>Brewing History</strong>After Gerard died, his son, Dr. Henry Pierre Heineken, who was a chemist, developed the quality of Heineken beer, and introduced modern technology into the beer brewing process. He also extended the brand name outside of the Netherlands. Under Henry’s leadership Heineken became an export beer, exporting beer also the United States. Only three days after prohibition had ended in 1933, the first bottles of Heineken were unloaded on to a dock in New York City. <strong>Mad Men</strong>In 1941, Henry’s son, Alfred’ Freddy’ Heineken took over the reigns of the company. Freddy’s charismatic personality turned Heineken into a world brand name. Freddy came up with the half-turned up ‘e’ in the Heineken logo, which resembles a smile, and the catchy TV slogan ‘<em>heerlijk, helder, Heineken’</em> pronounced <em>"hay-r-laick hell-dur hine-e-ken</em><em>.</em> Every Dutchmen watching TV in the last four decades can easily recite ‘Wonderful, Bright, Heineken’ on command. For the marketing, Freddy also improved the company image and logo and came up with the scheme of using the color green, now simply known as ‘Heineken Green’, the same color as the bottles, the black banner, and red star above the name. In the exhibition, without a doubt visitors are likely to associate the 1960s photograph of Freddy as a character from the Emmy-winning TV series <em>Mad Men</em> in him. Dressed in a black suit, slim tie, slicked back hair, and nonchalantly poised with a cigarette is his hand could have easily been a Madison Avenue advertising guru in the 1960s. Ironically enough, Freddy is reported to have said that if he hadn't worked for Heineken he would have been in the advertising business. Today, Heineken is headed by Freddy’s daughter, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, who holds controlling interest in the world’s third largest brewer. <strong>Hops</strong>After walking through the ‘brewing’ history, the nearly 600,000 visitors that come to the Heineken Experience each year are overwhelmed by the sweet, nutty smell coming from the giant stainless vats, the mixture of steeping water and barley (two Heineken’s four main ingredients). Visitors can taste in serving samples the yellow-greenish liquid before the next ingredient – hops – is added, which gives flavor and aroma to beer. <strong>Full monty</strong>To illustrate the next stage of the beer brewing process, known as the whirlpool, visitors take the ‘Brew Ride’, a <em>full-monty </em>kinesthetic experience similar to a roller-coaster ride, on how yeast in the brew mix becomes fermented, and turns grain-sugar into alcohol. Heat, moisture, coldness are just some of the tactile feelings that are experienced. At the end of the ride, the thirst needs to be quenched with a ‘Wonderful, bright, Heineken’. That’s when the gustatory part of the Heineken Experience comes into play. As the visitors are led off their Brew Ride, they are guided to a large red, star-shaped bar where glistening sample glasses stand lined up with freshly brewed Heineken await them. <strong>Proost</strong>Similar to a wine tasting specialist describing the aroma and flavors of a Chateau Cheval Blanc 1947, a young beer cicerone instructs visitors to hold their glass up to the light and admire the clear, golden hues of the mixture, to notice the thick frothy white head of the beer, and to take a good whiff. Most visitors jerk their heads back in discuss. “Yes, that’s right. It smells awful”. The connoisseur continues with a smile, ‘that froth protects your beer from oxidizing. If it didn’t, your beer would be flat and tasteless”. He continues, ‘grab your beer and look each other in the eye, because you know what that brings if you don’t, <em>wink, wink</em>. And now, <em>proost</em>! That’s how we say cheers in Holland”. WHEN AND WHERE? Address:The Heineken Experience, Stadhouderskade 78,1072 AE Amsterdam, T 020 5239222.<a href="mailto:Info.experience@heineken.com">Info.experience@heineken.com</a> Opening hoursMonday thru Thursday 11.00 till 19.30. Last entry and ticket sales at 17.30.Friday thru Sunday 11.00 till 20.30. Last entry and ticket sales at 18.30.Closed on Jan. 1st, April 30th, and Dec. 25th.Dec. 24th and Dec. 31st. Last entry and ticket sales at 16.00. The visit takes approximately 90 minutes. You will be served two drinks and a taste of Heineken. Non-alcoholic beverages are also available. Prices:Adults € 18.00, visitors under 18 years old are only allowed entrance when accompanied by an adult.</p>
</div></div></div>Sun, 20 Aug 2017 18:07:31 +0000Benjamin92 at http://benjaminbroberts.comWinter 2014: Say "Kaas"http://benjaminbroberts.com/?q=en/node/91
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://benjaminbroberts.com/sites/bbroberts.capdevelopment.nl/files/styles/large/public/field/image/You%20in%20Amsterdam%20Spring-a%202014.jpg?itok=rlucgzkP"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://benjaminbroberts.com/sites/bbroberts.capdevelopment.nl/files/styles/large/public/field/image/You%20in%20Amsterdam%20Spring-a%202014.jpg?itok=rlucgzkP" width="580" height="435" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Say “Kaas”! Text Benjamin RobertsPhotography Benjamin Roberts, Reypenaer, RijksmuseumThe golden, round-shaped Gouda and red paraffin wax-wrapped Edam have become synonymous with the Netherlands, and the Dutch. Believe it or not, the export of cheeses to the rest of Europe was born out of sheer necessity. During the Middle Ages, the Netherlands was a poor country when it came to natural resources. There were no precious metals and minerals to be traded for other products. Besides wind and water, the only asset the tiny country on the North Sea had, were its rich green pastures doted with Frisian and Dutch Belted Cows. Cheese quickly became a trade product, or the gold bullion with the countries of the Baltic Sea, which were rich in lumber and grain. With Gouda and Edam, lumber and wheat were purchased to build canal houses and bake bread. Today with 1.5 million dairy cows in the Netherlands, cheese is still the gold bullion of the Dutch economy. In 2010, 752 million kilos (1.657 trillion pounds) of cheese were produced, of which 576 kilos were exported, and nearly half to Germany. <strong>Is it “gow-da” or “goo-da”?</strong>Gouda is the most widely known Dutch cheese. The cheese – recognised by its yellow, wheel-like shape – got its name from the city of Gouda where cheeses were weighed and traded. There were never any cheeses produced in the town of Gouda, it was only a market town where farmers came and sold their cheeses. Today, foreigners visiting the Netherlands might run into trouble being understood if they ask for ‘goo-da’. The correct pronunciation is ‘gow-da’ with a guttural ‘g’, similar to the Spanish ‘g’. After one American tourist was explained the difference in pronunciation, he comically quipped back in a pseudo Italian accent: “I don’t know <em>gow-da</em> say it, but it’s <em>goo-da</em> to me.” According to Guillaume Pieters, cheese master or <em>fromager</em> of Reypenaer Cheese Store on Singel 182 in Amsterdam, “Gouda cheese is not based on any particular taste or smell. The name Gouda only signifies the round, wheel-like shape. The name Edam signifies the cannon-like form.” In 2010, the Dutch Dairy Board won a seven-year campaign with the European Union to have the two classic Dutch cheeses given a protected status. Now, only cheeses with the label ‘Dutch Gouda’ or ‘Dutch Edam’ are real Dutch cheeses. Before, labels with Dutch Gouda were produced as far away as New Zealand and Canada, and were still labelled Dutch Gouda or Edam. <strong>Thumping cheese</strong>Five generations of the Van den Wijngaard family have been ripening Reypenaer cheeses in their warehouse in the small town of Woerden, better known as the geographical heart of Holland. For more than a hundred years, the family has been ‘thumping’ and turning wheels of cheese twice a week like clockwork. Seasoned fromagers can easily detect if a cheese wheel has accumulated gas during the fermentation process by thumping. When there are pockets of gas locked in a cheese, it turns into Swiss cheese (i.e., leaving holes behind). And the turning and rotating of cheeses, ensures the fat content is evenly distributed throughout the entire wheel. Men who ripen cheese have to be strong because each wheel can weight up to 17 kilos in the beginning. By the time the average cheese has matured, it weights from 12 to 14 kilos, as the cheese releases water during the maturing process. <strong>60-minute tasting course</strong>At Reypenaer Cheese Store, visitors can sample their cheeses during a 60-minute tasting course. Laymen are introduced to six cheeses, ranging from cheeses made from goat or cow milk, and aged four months to three years. Reypenaer’s dark-yellow <em>belegen kaas</em> is considered to be the most flavourful. From this mildly aged Gouda cheese, a slight woody taste comes to the palette. Pieters adds: “That should be no surprise, considering that the interior of the warehouse in Woerden is made of pine.” Reypenaer cheeses are also naturally matured; the temperature is cooled by opening the hatches of the warehouse. The <em>pi</em><em>è</em><em>ce de r</em><em>ési</em><em>stance</em> from its assortment is called Reypenaer V.S.O.P (Very Special Old Product), a two-year-old cheese made from cow’s milk. On the tongue, it has a grainy and dry consistency, and a rich, earthy flavour. Pieters explains: “80% of the taste comes from ageing.” When a ruby port is immediately sipped afterwards, the taste buds are overrun with a distinctively dark chocolate flavour. <strong>Cheese sandwich, please</strong>Of the 18 kilos (41 pounds) of cheese that are individually consumed in the Netherlands annually, the Dutch prefer their Gouda to be <em>belegen</em>, a young cheese that has ripened after 20 weeks. It has a lactic taste; it’s clean, wholesome and milky, and it’s soft texture makes it perfect for sandwiches, which is the way most Dutch eat cheese. Cheese on buttered bread is a main staple of the Dutch cuisine and lunches in general. Expats in the Netherlands are often amazed at how Dutch employees prefer to lunch – each and every day – with their homemade sandwiches made with Gouda cheese. <strong>Turophiles</strong>When it comes to buying cheese, Amsterdam locals swear that <em>De Kaaskamer van Amsterdam </em>or ‘the cheese room of Amsterdam’, is the best place in town. In the tiny shop (Runstraat 7) nestled in the Nine Little Streets shopping district, 300 to 400 cheeses are stacked from ceiling to floor. According to manager Tim van Laar, the majority of <em>De Kaaskamer’s</em> cheeses are farmstead, and produced by small dairy farmers that have a passion for cheese-making. He emphasises, that all four employees that work in the shop are turophiles, “we love cheese”. Van Laar adds: “Every time a farmer comes up with a new cheese, we are critical to taste it, because we are continuously looking for the most delicious one. That’s our challenge.” <strong>A lot of aroma</strong>Farmer cheeses are made with raw milk, and still contain bacteria that enhances the flavour. Van Laar explains: “Most factory-produced and aged cheeses have a smooth, rubbery texture with a bland taste. The flavour or farmstead cheese, on the contrary, overwhelms the palette with a creamy flavour and barnyard aroma.” They usually have a grainy and silt-like texture from the particles of lactose because the milk has not been pasteurised like factory-produced cheeses. Van Laar continues: “The taste, well, that goes without saying: the slightly aged <em>jong belegen</em> (10 weeks old) and <em>belegen</em> (20 weeks old) are rich and creamy. And the more matured <em>extra belegen</em> (30 weeks old) with its orange colour has a nutty flavour.” Already since the 17th century when Holland established its trade with the East Indies and Spice Islands, cheese-makers have experimented with different flavours. An all-time favourite is the <em>Frisian Nagelkaas</em>, a dark-orange cheese speckled with brown stars, that is matured at three years and seasoned with cloves. <em>Leidse Komijnkaas</em> is a lighter cheese, seasoned with cumin seeds, and has a lot of aroma. <strong>Kaaskop! (Cheesehead!)</strong>As people become more health-conscious and develop their palette, local cheese made from raw milk is becoming more popular. An influential force in the use of raw milk for cheese-making is the Slow Food Movement, which hopes to retrieve many traditional cheeses that have disappeared after factory-made cheeses started standardising taste buds in the early 20th century. From its selection of Slow Food cheeses, <em>De Kaaskamer</em> has an excellent <em>Boeren opleg </em>cheese, aged from 18 to 24 months. It also gets its extra flavour from being made in wooden tubs, which has been the traditional way of making cheese in Holland for centuries. According to rumour, Dutch farmers used traditional cheese tubs during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) when they did not have other any protective headgear, again in necessity. When French soldiers saw a group of armed Dutch farmers approaching them wearing cheese tubs on their heads, they amusingly referred to them as ‘cheeseheads’. The ‘kaaskop’ was born. <br />
You always wanted to know more about cheese, but you never dared to ask? Here is your chance, at Reypenaer, in the centre of Amsterdam.</p>
</div></div></div>Sun, 20 Aug 2017 18:02:45 +0000Benjamin91 at http://benjaminbroberts.com